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1st Lt Anthony Piekartz was a January 1943 University of Connecticut graduate, agriculture major. He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve as a private in Hartford, Connecticut on 5 October 1942.

On 24 December 1944, the 8th Air Force mounted the largest single attack in its history, with over 2000 heavy bombers participating in a direct tactical assault on the airdromes in the Frankfurt area, and on road junctions, bridges and communication centers immediately behind the German bulge. The primary target for the 92nd Bomb Group was the Giessen airdrome, a fighter base near Frankfurt used by the Luftwaffe in support of the Von Rundstedt offensive.

Lt Piekarz' plane was damaged by severe flak over the target. The crew bailed out and the aircraft crashed inside the Allied lines. Lt Piekarz was killed when his parachute opened but did not fill out. Sometimes the parachutes were damaged by the enemy fire which wrecked the plane. He was the navigator. S/Sgt Harold H. Paske, ball turret gunner, did not jump and rode the ship down to his death. Technical Sgt John F. Booth, radio operator, was killed when his parachute tangled in the horizontal stabilizer, and dragged him down with the ship. Lieutenant McConnel, pilot, struck a picket fence in landing, and broke both legs. S/Sgt John J. Caravello, the tail gunner, landed close to the German lines, blundered into them, and walked out unscrathed.

2nd Lt Anthony Piekartz was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery at Fosse, Belgium at block K, row 6, grave 101.